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Get Fit, Get Healthy: Traverse City Track Club

The Traverse City Track Club has been bringing people together to run and walk for more than a half century.

The Road Runners Club of America just named Traverse City one of four 2016 Runner Friendly Communities, and the track club is a big part of that.

Young or old, seasoned or veteran, everyone is invited.

Michelle Dunaway and Corey Adkins take a jog with them in this week’s Get Fit, Get Healthy.

"They encourage me. I have friends that show up, we laugh together, we run together and then laugh together again," says Tim Manzer.

Tim considers himself a newer member of the Traverse City Track Club, a club he sort of got into by accident. Literally.

"I got in a motorcycle accident where I broke my pelvis, and my leg, and my arms and my sternum, spent a lot of time in recovery. Had to go from the wheelchair to the walker, learning how to walk little by little. Then I started to run, first time to my neighbors mailbox, then I ran/walked a 5K, then ran a 5K, then I did a 10K,” explains Tim.

And this is one of the club’s Wednesday night fun runs. Anyone is invited to walk, jog or run 3 or 5 miles.

"A lot of runs along the bay, the TART Trail, the Boardman Trail. Sometimes in winter we run along the streets of Traverse City,” says Kim Basch, Traverse City Track Club member.

But the track club goes far beyond this.

"We have a fun run. We have a racing team that appeals more to the elite runners. We stage a series of races, probably the biggest race of the year is the Bayshore Marathon, and runs are a part of our series. We try to serve a lot of different people and we try to be a part of the community as well. We also function as a major charity within the Grand Traverse area,” says Jim Graham, Traverse City Track Club president.

In the end, the goal is the same: to get people moving.

"We believe that running is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle. Runners generally don’t smoke cigarettes, they try to tend to other parts such as their diet, making sure they keep fit in other ways. I really think it encourages the idea of a healthy lifestyle and also maintaining it from day to day," explains Jim.

But more than anything, the track club brings support to its members, sometimes when they need it most.

"It’s a family. It’s called a runity, it’s the term that people use. It’s an infinity group, it’s a club and we try to be as social as possible with each other," says Jim.

Tim adds, "They just take you in and become your friend, and there’s all sorts of age groups. It’s for everybody, anybody who wants to go and put one foot in front of together, either. It’s a great club, I really enjoy it.

For more information about the Traverse City Track Club, click